It isn't so much dollar inflation as much as it is constrained supply. While this may be part of it, other guns haven't gone up by 200% in the same time.

Those $99 Norincos haven't been allowed to be imported for two decades. The $150 like new Yugos have all been imported- there aren't any more of those either. The Russians and Albanians were never brought in in huge numbers.

When plentiful supply dries up, prices climb. Especially when people are into semiauto intermediate caliber rifles in increasing numbers.

It isn't so much dollar inflation as much as it is constrained supply. While this may be part of it, other guns haven't gone up by 200% in the same time.

I disagree.

The guns that are cheaper now (Savage Axis, et. al.) have been made so by efficiencies in production. Use of CNC has reduced man-hours, computers have streamlined rcord and bookkeeping inthe back office, production has been moved out of Union Shop states to Right to Work states or even overseas, synthetic stocks have replaced checkered wood, scopes are made overseas..... compare apples to apples.

A gallon of gas or milk, even with the efficiencies introduced since then (5-10% of the gas is now ethanol) or even #2 yellow corn (which we are growing more of than ever, on less land, due to hyper-efficient agribusiness) is at least 3-4X the price it was 10-15 years ago.

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TheGolden Rule of Tool Use: "If you don't know what you are doing, DON'T."

I remember buying wood cases of them in 1991 and 1992 for $500. With 10 in the box. Sold them for $100 a piece and got $50 for the wood box. Wish I had kept a couple, but it helped paid my college tuition.

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You carry a Badge, You carry a Gun
Sean Connery - The Untouchables
Here endth the lesson

I guess I owned 6 of'm over the years. I used'm like a tool, bought when needed sold, at a profit, when I was through with'm. Of the 6, two would shoot a 2" group at hundred yards with a rear peep sight. If they were still $89 I'd buy another one. I did kill at least a dozen WT Deer with'm using the Chinese soft point ammo. The SP ammo made the gun equal to a .30-30 in performance at least in my experience. I have not owned one in about 17 years.

Regarding the SKS, I recently bought an unfired Norinco Paratrooper for $319. FWIW - I like the way they operate, field strip / re-assemble, it is a joy to shoot and is one of the coolest looking battle rifles ever. Oh - and the ammo is quite easy to find and afford

I bought my Yugo in 2003 from Centerfire Systems for $99. Wish I would have bought a couple dozen. It's a decent gun and I wouldn't mind having another--I'm just not willing to pay the going prices either. I should have bought a lot more 7.62x39 ammo when it was .08 a round too

If you go by inflation alone then that same $75.00 should be around $120.00 today not $350.00 plus.

By whose reckoning of inflation? The .gov keeps changing the things it uses to calculate the rate of inflation, adding things like microprocessors/personal computers- stuff that folks don't buy on a regular basis, and dropping things like vitamin D milk. When they report the CPI in the news, they often crow, "Excluding Food and Energy, consumer prices dropped this week....... the fact that the Housing bubble burst, causing housing costs to drop, and the sluggish economy has reduced the demand for gasoline and diesel has kept the inflation numbers down....... but they are fudging the numbers..... make no mistake about it: they are printing money out of thin air, making the money you have worth...... less.

Gas averaged $1.07 in '93, and was cheaper in Oklahoma where I lived- I remember it staying under $1/gallon...... I paid $3.99 for regular (the van runs like a fat man with a bad back and a broken foot on E-10.... and that stuff ate the fuel lines in my F-150) this last week. That's a four fold increase. Milk nearly the same, bread is worse. A $300 SKS is priced about right, and considering there are not any more coming into the country and nobody is making them here, maybe more, with rarer versions like the para or a Russsian costing much more.

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TheGolden Rule of Tool Use: "If you don't know what you are doing, DON'T."

I think I bought mine in 1992 for $79, $99, I can't remember. It's a /26\ stamped rifle, all matching except the magazine (mine broke) I replaced it with another, i should have fixed the old one. Oh well.

I need some parts for mine, since I decided not to buy another one. The sear block in the triggger group is worn, the wood gas tube cover cracked badly and fell off (I have a plastic one right now).

I bought my norinco SKS for $99 in 91, bought a 1260 rd ammo can for $99,shot up all the steel core(armor piercing) then sold it for $250 ten years ago. Had added a 30 round mag , came with the spike bayonet and had the milled rather than the stamped receiver.I have a Galil and Saiga in 223 and six 30 rd mags and a 9mm carbine which is quiet as a churchmouse and accurate out to 50m.If you hear it, it means I missed you

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I've made a lot of money in my life, most was spent on booze, babes, guns, and poker,the rest I wasted!

I was thinking about picking another one up, but not for $300, stamped receiver,

Wow. Until this instant I was completely unaware they ever made SKSs with stamped receivers.

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"As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven. "

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